Dick Spotswood: It’s compassionate to allow farmworkers to live on Bolinas Mesa

In West Marin, the nonprofit Bolinas Community Land Trust, in concurrence with the Marin County Board of Supervisors, recently took action to make the term “environmental justice” real. They did it by enabling the relocation of about 60 Latino farmworkers and their families from filthy hovels to clean, safe and environmentally sound trailers.

I visited the site and was impressed. The Bo-Linda Vista Project is an example of practical environmental justice where those who provide Marin with its bounty of sustainable agriculture can live with their families in dignity.

California’s Coastal Commission reports Bo-Linda Vista involves the “installation of 27 recreational vehicle pads and RVs, utility connections, driveway access, and an on-site septic system, all in order to provide temporary emergency affordable housing for about 60 people, and removal of the unpermitted and substandard housing and related facilities that previously housed those 60 people.”

Now, a small number of Bolinas residents operating anonymously under the banner “Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use” have filed a suit in Marin Superior Court to eject mobile homes from Bolinas Mesa. Their goal is to move the farmworkers’ mobile homes away from the environmentally sensitive coastline. Where they could go is unspecified.

The action is based on a procedural contention that the Marin County Planning Commission failed to adhere to the Coastal Act and the Williamson Act regarding new developments in the Coastal Zone.

Like most Marinites, some in West Marin are terrified by the word “change.” All of us (me included), have resisted what we perceived as undesirable land-use changes. We must get used to the idea that the greater community good sometimes trumps our own preferences.

Frustrated with the decision to temporarily locate trailer homes on a flat (already denuded) part of the Tacherra ranch, Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use took its complaint to the proper venue: the California Coastal Commission. Its assignment is to protect the coast. The commission is the gold standard of environmental protection.

Some wrongly contend that the Coastal Commission is too strict and inflexible. They are committed to honoring the goals of the Coastal Act. Commissioners and their staff also look at the big picture. One of the Coastal Act’s goals is preservation of coastal farmland. That’s impossible to accomplish without farmworkers. They deserve a nearby place to reside.

On a unanimous vote, commissioners rejected Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use’s petition.

The commission’s staff report recommending that the use of trailer homes be sustained explains their rationale: “The (Bo-Linda Vista) project furthers farmworker and related affordable housing objectives applicable to a ranch property like this. … (It) is primarily a form of temporary emergency farmworker and affordable housing.

“As this project addresses a public health hazard and provides much needed affordable housing for a marginalized community of Latinx farmworkers and related persons, it also promotes equity and environmental justice.”

Upon the motions of Marin County Supervisor Katie Rice, who serves on the commission, the application was unanimously denied. Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use is pursuing its last option, a lawsuit against Marin County and the trust requesting a full environmental impact report.

Fortunately, our legal system operates slowly. It’ll take years for a trial court to rule, the appellate court to ponder and, then, for the California Supreme Court to decide. The state’s high court should sustain the Coastal Commission’s determination.

Members of the Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use should take the word “compassionate” in the name seriously. The compassionate action is for them to suggest an alternative viable location where farmworkers and their families can live. If they can’t locate one, it’s one more reason why the Bo-Linda Vista project is appropriate on Bolinas Mesa.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.